What is the overall SNAP/EBT participation rate in Minnesota by race and ethnicity for 2024-2025?
Executive summary
Minnesota’s overall SNAP/EBT participation rate in 2024 is about 7.8% of the state population — roughly 440,000–454,000 people receiving benefits in an average month — but federal reporting of racial and ethnic participation is published at the national level (FY2023) and state-level race breakdowns are limited in the supplied sources (national shares: White ~35.4%, Black ~25.7%, Hispanic ~15.6%; 17% race unknown) [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What the headline numbers say about Minnesota participation
Federal and independent compilations put Minnesota’s SNAP participation near 7.8% of state residents in FY2024, with an average monthly caseload cited between about 440,000 (Minnesota state reporting) and 453,900 people (USAFacts) [1] [5]. Those figures are the baseline for any race/ethnicity rate calculation: participation counts divided by population denominators, but the available search results do not provide a statewide racial breakdown of SNAP recipients for 2024–2025 [1] [4].
2. National racial/ethnic composition of SNAP — the closest available benchmark
USDA and analyses of its Characteristics report for FY2023 show the national racial distribution among SNAP participants: about 35% identified as White, nearly 26% as African American, nearly 16% as Hispanic, ~4% as Asian, ~1% Native American, and roughly 17% listed as “race unknown” [3] [2] [6]. These are national shares from USDA reporting and subsequent fact-checking; they are the nearest authoritative racial/ethnic breakdown available in the provided material [3] [2].
3. Why state-level racial participation rates aren’t in the search results
The sources provided include national-level SNAP “Characteristics of SNAP Households: Fiscal Year 2023” and state caseload totals, but the dataset or table that would allow calculation of Minnesota-specific racial participation rates for 2024–2025 is not included in the supplied search results. The USDA report covers state-level information but the specific state-by-race percentages for Minnesota are not shown in the available snippets [4] [1]. Therefore, available sources do not mention Minnesota’s 2024–2025 SNAP participation rate broken down by race/ethnicity.
4. Two practical approaches — and their limits — to estimate Minnesota’s racial shares
One approach would apply the national racial composition of SNAP recipients to Minnesota’s caseload to produce a rough estimate (e.g., 35% of ~444,000 ≈ 155,000 White recipients), but that assumes Minnesota’s racial distribution of participants mirrors the national pattern — an assumption that state demographics and local program access can invalidate. The supplied sources caution that national patterns (and large “race unknown” shares) complicate direct translation to a state-level picture [3] [2]. Available sources do not provide the necessary Minnesota-specific race-by-SNAP counts to make a defensible state estimate.
5. What reporting and fact-checkers emphasize about interpreting race statistics
PolitiFact and Al Jazeera both flagged misleading public graphics about SNAP and race, underscoring that different data sources (USDA program records vs. Census ancestry filters) and large “race unknown” categories change the story and can produce erroneous impressions — for instance about citizenship or noncitizen participation — if context is omitted [2] [6]. The USDA-based national report shows most SNAP participants are U.S.-born citizens (89.4% in cited reporting), a contextual point often omitted from viral claims [2].
6. Caveats, transparency and next steps to get Minnesota-by-race numbers
The explicit limitation in these search results: state-level racial breakdowns for SNAP participation in Minnesota for 2024–2025 are not in the materials provided [4] [1]. To produce accurate Minnesota-by-race participation rates you need either: (a) the USDA FNS “Characteristics” state tables that include race for FY2023–FY2024 if published, or (b) Minnesota DHS/DHS or DCYF reporting that publishes participant counts by race and month. The user should request those specific tables or permit me to run a targeted query of USDA FNS state cross-tabs or Minnesota DHS reports; they are not present in the current search results [4] [7].
Sources used: USDA/ERS and USDA/FNS reporting and state summaries (USDA FY2023 characteristics and national SNAP statistics), USAFacts and Minnesota state pages cited above [8] [4] [1] [3] [2] [6] [7].